Reformation Dbq

Paragraph One: Political Rights and Liberty

Main ideas: suffrage and abolition movements

Documents: C and I (women’s suffrage)

Subtopic: abolition movements

Paragraph Two: Right to Practice Culture and Pursuit of Happiness

Main ideas: second great awakening and religious revival

Documents: B and F (church amelioration)

Subtopic: transcendentalists

Paragraph Three: Equal Opportunity

Main ideas: juvenile justice

Documents: A and E (prison system and public education)

Subtopic: public education

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Doc Analysis / Reasoning / Context

Introduction:

As Americans entered into an era of development, reformists sought to expand democratic ideals and refine the nation to meet them. For many years they had lived under British rule and, once free from it, strove to base their new country on the democratic beliefs for which they had longed. However, once established, citizenship rights applied to less than half of the population and once again, groups began to pine for representation and government reform. An increasingly democratic outlook developed within the country, and the common citizens’ voice became more prevalent across the nation as people clammored to exercise these democratic intentions. Movements like women’s suffrage, abolition, religious revival, juvenile justice, and temperance sprouted in response, ultimately fostering cultural development, advancements addressing social injustices, and changes encompassing the government’s responsibilities to their citizens. The country was founded under the democratic ideals of liberty, equality, representation, political rights, and equal opportunity for all, and reformists in society expected the nation to live up to this promise.

Body Paragraph One:

Reformists during the early nineteenth century strove to instill democratic ideals of liberty into American legislature, and movements utilized publicizing to make their grievances known.

Document C: Women’s Suffrage

“Am I not a Woman and a Sister”

written by African American abolitionist and engraver, Patrick Reason, in 1835

exemplifies that though women and men are considered ‘family’, and men are the brothers of these women, they continue to treat them unjustly

women are not seen in the same light as men, though they are no different from their brothers

the image also reflects the commonalities between the women’s movement and the strive for abolition, which desired increased rights for minorities

the anti-slavery cause was often utilized to address the plight of women, who though they were not enslaved, faced similar treatment and limits to their rights

women working in factories, as wage slaves, were put through like injustices as slaves, who were both imprisoned under the control of men

both slaves and women alike endured a lack of voting and property rights

the engraving appeared as a powerful emblem, printed on items to manifest women’s anti-slavery associations, and the slogan echoed the motto of the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade (“Am I Not a Man and a Brother”; 1787)

a majority of abolitionists, such as Angeline and Sarah Grimke and Susan B. Anthony opposed the idea of slavery, and through their anti-slavery work continued to influence the movement for women’s equality

therefore, the picture is referring to the slavery of women through lack of rights, labor, and actual slavery limiting people’s abilities and freedoms

Document I: Women’s Suffrage

“To declare our right to be free as man is free, to be represented in the government which we are taxed to support”

written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a prominent suffrage and civil rights activist, at The Seneca Falls Convention of 1848

the quote argues that women uphold the same responsibilities as men, and must play a similar role in supporting the government through taxes. They are equally as productive and important as men in the community, and should therefore be treated in the same light

Stanton aided in the organization of the first woman's rights convention, as well as the formation of the Nation Women’s Loyal League alongside Susan B. Anthony (1863)

her stance on women’s rights believed that women should be held equal to men in the government, and should be granted representation as well as voting rights

the convention at Seneca Falls composed a declaration, stating that “all men and women are created equal”, and that women have the same inalienable rights as men

in the declaration, the most prominent demand is that for the right to vote, as well as the idea that if women are ostracized by the government, they should have the right to overthrow it

Stanton also states in her passage that women are “assembled to protest against a form of government, existing without the consent of the governed”

the document at Seneca Falls was dismissed by the majority of society, believing that men and women should have separate roles in the community

Reasoning (Cause and Effect)

the engraving depicts a connection between abolition and women’s movements, most likely because both sought to expand democratic ideals in a fight for political rights/suffrage

women did not have the ability to take a direct part in politics, though they had to ability to exercise change by influencing those who did have political power

the experience that women gained through partaking in the anti-slavery movement played a role in the roots of American feminism and the suffrage movement

Stanton, who was advocate about women obtaining voting rights, became a recurring voice in the reform movement. Her efforts, alongside fellow reformists, aided in the eventual